Now is the time for change. Teachers feel that even though they have the expertise, vision, experience, education and commitment to help children learn, these qualities are not appreciated. Too often, teachers are told that the decisions for how to best educate children need to be made by administrators. Therefore, teachers have become disenchanted with their profession and have an overall feeling of no control over what they know is best for their students.

This spring, CTA introduced legislation (AB2160) to change the collective bargaining act. I believe that this legislation will give teachers the opportunity to be more involved in making decisions that directly effect what they do in the classroom. The bottom line is that teachers will be able to help decide what textbooks are used, what curriculum is taught, and what kinds of professional development they really need to have. However, this legislation has caused a firestorm across the state with administrators and school boards. They disagree with the concept that teachers should be involved with the decisions about what they teach and the texts they use in their classrooms. The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) are vigorously attacking AB2160 and lobbying heavily for legislative support of their position.

AB2160 has now passed through two committees in the State Assembly. A new amendment to the bill proposed an option for Academic Partnerships. These partnerships will be comprised of equal numbers of appointments by the local governing board and the bargaining representative plus one or more parents selected by each party. The partnerships will consider only items listed in AB2160 and all decisions must be made by consensus. If agreement cannot be reached within three months, the exclusive representative may demand to negotiate the item and the governing board must negotiate in good faith. So I ask, what are administrators and school board members so afraid of? They say they want teachers involved in making these important educational decisions. AB2160, as amended, gives them the chance to involve teachers and parents without having to negotiate as a first step.

All of you need to get involved so that you can have the right to decide on the issues that affect your teaching and your classroom. You can do that by writing to your local legislators in the Assembly and the Senate. They need to know that we are not taking away the decision making power from the administrators and school board, but that we are asking to be officially involved in what goes on in our classrooms. Visit the AB2160 website at www.ab2160.org to learn how you can get involved. I also urge you to consider writing letters to the editors of our local newspapers. Now is the time. You need to be heard.